Star Wars: Battlefront

More stars! More wars! Go figure.

You've always dreamed of slipping on the shiny white metal jackboots of an Imperial stormtrooper, but fetishes aside, there's never been a proper chance to do frontline fighting as one in a game. That is, until now. Last month, we got you the scoop on the upcoming sci-fi-fueled, Battlefield-ish Star Wars Battlefront. Since then, we've actually had a chance to knock around an early PC build of the gameand to get some tasty screens for you in the process. The information below, however, will have to hold you over until a release date far, far away (late fall 2004).

On paper, it sounds like the game that Galaxies should have been. Instead of playing as the equivalent of some second-stringer telling you to "stay on target," you're one of the grunts down in the trenches, fighting this well-known interstellar war. OK, two well-known interstellar conflicts. You'll be able to relive battles from the original movies, but material is also taken from the new trilogy, since you're also drafted to fight in the Clone Wars.

For continuity's sake, Imperial forces won't be able to duke it out with the clone army, according to producer Jim Tso, so the entire game will be split into two time periods across 15-plus playable levelsEmpire versus Rebellion and Republic versus Federation. There's no word on whether the maps will vary a whole lot, but as Tso says, "Not a whole lot is going to change on Tatooine over the course of 20 yearsit's a desert!"

Battlefield -- Innnnn -- Spaaaaaace
One thing that's going to change is how you suit up for battle. You play as a member of the heavily armed Republic forces or the heavy-metal droid army, and the Clone Wars are going to be hairy. Just strap into a gunshipthis dreadnought seats one pilot, a co-pilot, a couple ball-turret gunners, and one side gunner. The AT-TE is the squat precursor to the AT-AT walkers. There are also the spider droids, two-wheeled Hailfire tanks, starfighters, and the imposing AATs that almost wiped out Jar-Jar in The Phantom Menace (sooo clooose, so very close). Granted we only fought in Naboo, but that's just a miniscule taste of things to come. The classic Star Wars trilogy will also be well v xrepresentedif not a little lopsided. You see, the Empire has the leg up in firepower and numbers. For every X-wing, Y-wing, and snowspeeder the Rebellion has, the Empire has AT-STs, AT-ATs, TIE fighters, and TIE bombers. Yes, this is shaping up to be a nerd's dream come true.

It begs the question: Is this game just copying Battlefield's style and throwing in popular sci-fi vehicles? Tso fesses up: "Pandemic actually came to us after working on Star Wars: The Clone Wars with an idea to make a game just about the battles [in the Star Wars universe]. Basically, it was a Battlefield-like game before there even was a Battlefield." Of course, Star Wars fans took some initiative of their own by working on the film-themed Galactic Conquest mod for Battlefield 1942. To which Tso adds, "The people obviously want the same thing we doto be in the Star Wars universe. If we can't deliver a game better than the mod, we should all quit our day jobs."

Space Exploitation
Considering the scope of the conquest mode, it looks like their positions are secure. Playing a more strategic angle, this multiplayer mode lets 32 players (Pandemic is working up to 64-player capabilities into LAN play) pick sides, and then, before combat, select planets to control. Kind of like Risk, sides alternate choosing among the 10 planets. The ultimate goal, obviously, is to own them all.

Though we don't have a final list of all the worlds to conquer, we can tell you that Naboo, Genosis, Camino, Tatooine, Yavin, Hoth ("We must have a Hoth battle in every Star Wars game," Tso jokes), and Endor are up for grabs. There's also word that a key world and battles from the upcoming Episode III will also be in the game. Some planets, such as Yavin and Endor, rely more on ground combat between soldiers, whether it's in jungles or the cities on Naboo. Other, more open battles, like ones on Hoth and Genosis, are more vehicle-centric. Now here's where it gets interesting: Depending on the planet you holdand the time period you're fighting inyou get different bonuses for owning the different planets. If the imperials hold Endor long enough, you'll be the proud owner of a brand-spankin'-new Death Star. If the Republic maintains control of Camino, your clone army gets bonus units when going into battle. And this is saying nothing of the NPCs who will appear in battle. The famous faces of Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Count Dooku number among the bonus computer-controlled NPC troops that'll duke it out with you. Then, to add more flavor, you may run into some of the indigenous people of various worlds. Tso speaks of computer-controlled Tusken Raiders populating the Tatooine deserts and picking fights with anybody who comes near. There's also talk of the playful and oh-so-annoying Ewoks sneaking onto speederbikes on Endor. Please, please let there be Ewoks for us to stomp.

Tso promises that the maps themselves will hold more strategic elements as well. He uses Hoth as an example. There are consequences to losing command posts, so if the empire can take out the shield generators early enough, the rebels are toast. Conversely, if the rebels can hold the line, there are only so many reinforcements available for the imperial forces to draw from.

While Pandemic is also hard at work on PS2 and Xbox versions of the game, Tso says they want to make sure the PC version is a quality PC title in its own right and not a port. What we've knocked around is obviously early, but as of press time, we're about a year away from seeing the finished product. This taste of the Force is more than enough to keep us going until then.